Deep dive
Tech Giants of Silicon Valley:
IT Tour in the USA

 
27.07 - 1.08 2022
5 days
9 companies
Instead of learning them in theory, see the world’s best business practices in action!
Benefits of the “DEEP DIVE” tour:

5-day intensive training 

First-hand learning about internal business process inside global companies & successful startups

Networking with large numbers of like-minded professionals 

Opportunity to deeply assess the market that you want to work in/with

Getting new ideas and energy boost  

Who should join? 
  • Business owners & CEOs
  • Strategy and Business Development Managers
  • C-executives, who are looking for expanding their business and new partnerships

We are going to visit: 

  • Most Valuable Technology Companies in the US and the world 
  • Silicon Valley 
  • Best teams/offices responsible for sustainability, agility, and new management models
  • Startups, accelerators, and investment funds 

Why California, USA? 

  • If California were a country, it would rank third in terms of the number of billionaires in the world. Some of the world’s biggest tech companies are based in Silicon Valley, including giants like Google and Facebook. 
  • Facebook – the largest online social networking service in the world based in Menlo Park, California, owned by META. Facebook is a top-five most visited sites in the world. 
  • In February 2021, Google controlled 86.6% of the search engine market. Needless to say, Google headquarters are in Menlo Park as well. ‘
  • Netflix, Inc. - an American subscription streaming service and production company. Netflix is a perfect example of a company with the flexible business model that sets it apart as a premier content platform and a market leader. Netflix is headquartered in Los Gatos, CA

Day 1
Sunday

Group arrival to San Francisco 

Transfer to the hotel

Rest time upon arrival 


Day 2
Monday

Meeting with Google

Line of business: IT corporation 

Google LLC is an American multinational technology company that specializes in Internet-related services and products, which include a search engine, online advertising technologies, cloud computing, software, and hardware. Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc. is considered one of the Big Five American information technology companies, alongside Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft.

Google's main site, google.com, is the most visited site on the Internet. In addition to the search engine, Google provides many other services, such as Gmail and Hangouts. Google Maps has become the most popular service among third-party app creators. It is this service that leads as the basis of integrated applications.

● more than 2 million custom servers around the globe
● processes more than one billion search queries daily
● search engine controls 86.6% of the search engine market
● can find information in 191 languages

Meeting with Netflix

Line of business: a subscription streaming service and production company

Netflix is an American global on-demand Internet streaming media provider, that has distributed paid TV content as well as original programs, including original series, specials, miniseries, documentaries and films. Netflix is a perfect example of a company with a flexible business model that sets it apart as a premier content platform and a market leader. 

From day one, the company was able to find its niche and advantages that ensured its further development despite the presence of strong competitors. For example, Netflix’s approach to business innovation is very flexible: any innovation is tested by the audience focus group before taking effect. With negative reviews, the innovation in most cases is canceled. This approach has served the company well from the start and continues to do so to this day.

● 203.7 million subscribers worldwide
● $11.8 billion spending on content creation in 2020
● operates in more than 190 countries
● In 2016 the company produced 126 original series and films


Day 3
Tuesday

Meeting with Facebook (Meta)

Line of business: transnational holding company

Meta Inc. is the holding company that owns Facebook, the largest social networking site in the world with 2.8 billion monthly active users as of year-end 2020. Meta owns other popular services such as Instagram, WhatsApp, workplace (corporate messenger) and Oculus.

Initially, the website was called Thefacebook and was available only to students at Harvard University, then registration was opened to other universities in Boston, and then to students of any educational institution in the United States. Now Facebook is one of the five most visited websites in the world.

● in 2021 Meta earned and $104.8 billion in revenue.
● by Oct. 1, 2021, Meta earned $39.0 billion in net income
● the advertising business accounted for 97% of the company's top line.

Meeting with Plug & Play

Line of business: startup, accelerator  

Plug and Play Tech Center is the world's largest early-stage investor, accelerator, and corporate innovation platform with global headquarters in Sunnyvale, California in the Silicon Valley. PNP connects B2B startups developing innovative technologies with Fortune 500 companies that are looking for these innovations. The accelerator does not request any shares from startups but gets paid by partner corporations. The main benefit of joining the PNP for a startup is not to attract a round of investments, but to pilot the technology within large corporations and find product/market fit. 

Plug and Play uses an individual approach and customized applications for each of the 15 industries represented on their platform. The accelerator does not require a startup to have equity in order to join the program. On the contrary, every year the development center invests in 160 companies of any size and at any stage of development. Startups need the capital and professional team, but even more they need to find the market, where their innovation is in high demand. PNP together with mentors and corporations are assisting startups to find this match.  

● PNP invests in 160 companies every year 
● PNP includes over 300 tech startups 
● 180 investors are a part of the PNP network 


Day 4
Wednesday

Stanford University Tour 

Track: the history of entrepreneurship 

Stanford University is well known all over the globe. Every year, the admissions committee receives about 50 thousand resumes from every corner of the world but only 4.5-5% of these applicants become students.

Geographically, the university is located in an isolated area of Santa Clara County, California with a population of 13,000 people. Administratively, Stanford belongs to Palo Alto, the heart of Silicon Valley. 

Stanford covers an area of over 3,300 hectares. This is a huge private territory with its own visitor center, educational buildings, laboratories, a library, hostels, a church, police and post offices, a cinema, a concert hall and a stadium with 50,000 seats. Add here 80 kilometers of roads, two water supply systems, three dams, three open reservoirs, a nature reserve, and an orchard and you get an almost complete city.

The university also has its own publishing house and news portal. For several decades, Stanford has been in the top ten best higher education institutions on the planet. 22 Nobel laureates and 5 Pulitzer Prize winners, many celebrities and founders of top IT companies have worked here. As of 2020, the university ranks 4th in the global university rankings.


Day 5
Thursday

Meeting with Salesforce 

Line of business: software development 

Salesforce is an American cloud-based software company headquartered in San Francisco, Salesforce Tower skyscraper, with regional offices in 25 countries. It provides customer relationship management service and also provides enterprise applications focused on customer service, marketing automation, analytics, and application development. In 1999, four Salesforce founders, working shoulder to shoulder in a small San Francisco apartment, launched a customer relationship management (CRM) system with a groundbreaking twist. 

All the software and critical customer data would be hosted on the internet and made available as a subscription service. This pioneering “software as a service,” or SaaS, model quickly spread across the technology industry. According to Glassdoor rating 2021 Salesforce appeared on every country’s Best Places to Work list. 

● Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work for 10 years straight
● regional offices in 25 countries.
● the world market leader in CRM systems.

Meeting with Invitae 

Line of business: innovative medicine 

Invitae Corporation is a leading medical genetics company whose mission is to bring comprehensive genetic information into mainstream medicine to improve healthcare for billions of people. Invitae's goal is to aggregate the world's genetic tests into a single service with higher quality, faster turnaround time, and lower prices. The company offers a wide range of diagnostic tests for cancer. The company revenue is estimated at a billion dollars, and it employs about 1,000 employees.

Invitae founders built a unique ORG1 talent management system that keeps track of the company operations and human capital management. The system provides varies visual data based on the specified parameters that show staff involvement in different projects, track time, staff engagement and many more. ORG1 is a talent analytics platform that helps evaluate and promote people based on data collected by the system. 

Invitae’s leadership believe that the company's success is solely based on effective teamwork and collaboration between employees. It might take a single bad decision or wrong hire to destroy a good team. That is why Invitae’s management are determined to invest in people and carefully match each project with staff’s skills, personalities, team opinion and ambitions. It is never easy but contributes to the overall company success. 

Meeting with Grammarly

Line of business: IT

Grammarly is a Ukrainian American-headquartered cross-platform cloud-based typing assistant that reviews spelling, grammar, punctuation, clarity, engagement, and delivery mistakes. It uses AI to identify and search for an appropriate replacement for the error it locates. It also allows users to customize their style, tone, and context-specific language.

In October 2019, the company raised $90 million during the second round of funding and reached a Unicorn status (a term used to refer to technology startups worth over $1B). Grammarly has been named to Fast Company’s prestigious annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2019 as an honoree in the Artificial Intelligence sector as well as the "Best Companies to Launch a Career" list. In 2020 and 2021, Forbes included Grammarly to the Cloud 100, a list of the top cloud companies. 

● Grammarly raised $110 million in 2017 in its first round of funding
● Grammarly's audience is over 10 million users
● the startups worth over $1B


Day 6
Friday

Meeting with Linkedin 

Line of business: social network  

LinkedIn is an American business and employment-oriented online service for searching and building business contacts. As of September 2021, LinkedIn has 774+ million registered members from over 200 countries and territories and represents 150 industries. LinkedIn is available in 24 languages. In June 2016 Linkedin was acquired by Microsoft for $26.2 billion in cash. 

In the fiscal year 2020, LinkedIn's annual revenue amounted to more than 8.05 billion U.S. dollars. Over 70% of LinkedIn users are located outside the US and approximately 25 million are registered in Europe.

• revenue of over 8.05 billion U.S. dollars
• 25 million users in Europe 
• 774+ million registered members

Meeting at Walgreens Boots Alliance 

Line of business: Pharma
 
Walgreen Company is the largest pharmacy chain in the US. The company operates more than 13,100 pharmacies and stores selling cosmetics, perfumes and hygiene product in 11 countries. WBA is also the largest pharmaceutical distributor, owning about 400 distribution centers delivering products to more than 200,000 pharmacies and medical centers in 25 countries.

In fiscal 2015 WBA revenue was $103.4 billion while net income reached $4.2 billion. The company has 100 years of experience in the healthcare industry. Walgreens Boots Alliance is a U.S. dividend aristocrat and has increased its dividend payout for over 45 consecutive years.

• owns more than 13,100 pharmacies and stores
• operates in 11 countries 
• in 2015 revenue reached $103.4 billion


Day 7
Friday

Departure

This is a working program and may be subject to slight changes and substitutions due to speakers’ availability, changes in companies’ office schedule and people’s factors. The program can be tailored according to your needs and preferences. 
What are the benefits?
1
Learn about the method of decentralized management from the companies that have a proven track record
2
Receive a huge boost of inspiration and innovative ideas for your business
3
Learn practical tools and secrets of successful management
4
Connect on a personal level with the unique US entrepreneurial community 
5
Discover real reasons for the success of the world’s leading companies
6
Learn from the best
What is included in the price?

What is included in the price?

  • City Tour 
  • Visit of the companies announced in the program (or pre-approved substitutions)
  • Meeting with company representatives announced in the program 
  • Interpreter 
  • Transfers to and from all official activities listed in the program
  • Informational materials 
  • Visa support 
  • FastForward expert accompanying and coordinating the group 
  • Taxes and fees 

 

What is NOT included in the price?

  • Air Fares 
  • Accommodation 
  • Medical Insurance 
  • Meals 
  • Visa fees
FAQ
1. Each country has its own specifics of doing business. How useful could be the practical knowledge received from a foreign speaker in application to my local business specifics?
Although each country has its own cultural and business specifics, innovative ideas, trends in marketing, management and overall business don’t have geographical borders. Learning and networking with our speakers in the US, you will have a unique opportunity to learn new ideas/trends and be a step ahead of your local competitors.  
2. What is the optimal number of participants in the tour?
We’d recommend having a group of up to 15-20 people
3. Who are our speakers? 
Our speakers are top managers of the companies. We are carefully preparing our speakers for the meeting, sharing information about the group, the list of questions from the participants and the purpose of the meeting.
4. What is the format of the meeting?
Meetings are usually interactive. A typical meeting takes about 2 hours. It starts with a speaker presenting on the topic announced in the program, followed by the Q&A.
5. Where meetings are taking place?
We are arranging a comfortable bus to get to the location. Usually, meetings are taking place in the offices of the companies or in some instances at the pre-arranged conference halls if the office of the company we are visiting works remotely or cannot accommodate the large group.
6. Will somebody be accompanying us during the program? 
Throughout the program, FastForward expert will be providing detailed information about all meetings, speakers and locations, accompanying and attending meetings, resolving the org. moments with translation equipment and internal logistics. He/she will be always in touch for any questions, ready to recommend good restaurants, or resolve an issue. 
7. Could I ask speakers specific questions related to my business? 
Yes, you can ask questions during the Q&A part of the meeting. 
8. What language is the meeting in?
All meetings are in English 
9. Do you assist in the hotel and airfare selection? 
We will be glad to help you choose a comfortable hotel, as well as select flight options based on your preferences. Hotel reservations and ticket purchases are on you. 
10. Will meals be arranged? 
Breakfast is usually at the hotel, lunches are pre-booked for the group close to the next meeting location. You have free time in the evening, so you could choose the location based on your preferences. Please note that the cost of the meals is not included in the package. 
Since 2006, FastForward has been conducting management tours in Europe
Each visit is a charge of breakthrough ideas and positive emotions! Here's how it was last time:

Managers and executives of over 250 companies have trusted their education and search for business ideas for us by joining our management tours. 
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Registration
To participate in the Tour registration is required.

We will contact you ASAP!